Our investment in Akkroo, lead capture solution

According to the industry research, 75% of B2B marketers name events as their main strategy for lead generation. Globally, around 40% of corporate marketing budget is allocated to events. In 2017 alone circa $500bn was spent on B2B events, from sponsoring to exhibiting, with an average spend of $25k per event.

Companies exhibit at events and trade shows for a variety of reasons, ultimately to generate new business leads. Traditionally, this data was captured manually using paper forms, business cards or by hiring badge scanners from organisers. This often led to inaccurate data, lost leads and significant time lags before reaching the CRM or marketing systems. As many as 70% of all collected leads were never followed up.

Akkroo has developed a cloud-based, universal event lead capture solution. It enables companies that exhibit regularly at B2B events to accurately capture sales leads using the Akkroo app. Lead data is then fully integrated with the exhibitors’ Marketing Automation or CRM, ensuring leads reach the right place and are followed up quickly and appropriately.

By using Akkroo, customers are able to accelerate revenue generated from events and vitally, the platform provides quantifiable results on one of the largest components of marketing spend. Large and medium sized B2B enterprises can finally measure the ROI from their corporate events expenditure, such as the number of new leads and sales conversions.

Akkroo’s software captures lead information in a consistent format at every event, with enterprise-grade data security. The app works offline and leads are automatically uploaded whenever a connection becomes available. Attendee badges and business cards can be scanned using the Akkroo app too saving time manually entering prospects’ information.

All collected data can be analysed using Akkroo’s dashboard which automatically syncs with CRM and marketing automation software. This holistic approach helps to alleviate errors and delays from data transcription. It allows businesses to follow up on sales leads promptly using their existing marketing systems.

Although still in its infancy, the event lead capture sector is well positioned to benefit from the regulatory changes that are being implemented all around the world. GDPR, the EU wide data protection legislation introduced in May 2018, is a major catalyst for the growth of the product category. It imposes onerous criteria on how companies collect and manage personal data. Many of the traditional practices, such as collecting business cards and filling out paper forms, no longer suffice under the GDPR. This is where companies like Akkroo come in to help businesses comply with the legislation.

We, at Conviction, believe that there is a significant value and growth in this emerging product category. The big data hacking crises of 2018 exposed the sheer vulnerability of data collection and protection. The governments are forced to take action and introduce robust data laws thereby generating strong tailwinds for the data capture industry. We were therefore delighted to add Akkroo to our core portfolio of investments after leading their Series A £2m funding round in May 2018. We are excited for the next step of their journey as they continue to scale the business internationally, develop new product features and stay ahead of the competition.